World Cup Soccer News

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El Classico

On Saturday December 10^th, 2011, one of the biggest soccer matches of the season will take place. Barcelona take on Real Madrid at the Bernabeau. Messi and Ronaldo are certainly expected to be the stars of the show. They are the creators. Their innovative play propels their respective teams forward. Who will win? I think Real Madrid will win 2-1. They have such momentum at the moment. Thoughts?

The June FIFA Rankings were released today. They were rather surprising, to say the least. Only two out of the top ten teams did not change position – the top two: Spain and Netherlands. Argentina dropped all the way to 10^th place, Mexico catapulted up to 9^th place and England is enjoying 4^th place.

 Two days ago World Cup Soccer News predicted the top 25. Like many other soccer fans, we expected Argentina to fall, but had no idea they would fall with such velocity. Many teams that played well in World Cup 2010, were punished with this release of standings. The results from the  group stages of the tournament no longer impact the rankings. Therefore, countries like Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay fell considerably. Many people will be anxious to see the results released on July 27, because it will serve as the first precursor to the 2014 World Cup.

 Below is a table that shows our predicted top 25, compared to the actual rankings for June:

Here is a list of what worldcupsoccernews.com expects the June FIFA Rankings to look like after they are released on June 29, 2011. The top spot will be no surprise – Spain. Two easy June victories prove that there is no other front-runner. Second place will still be Netherlands even though we predict they will lose points due to a draw with Brazil and a poor showing against Uruguay. With only 1 goal over Romania, Brazil should drop to 4^th place while Germany will climb to 3^rd place. June has not been pretty for Argentina; first a 4-1 loss to Nigeria followed by a loss to Poland. We expect that the Argentine’s will switch places with England to round out the top 6. Uruguay will continue to tow the line at seventh place, but will reduce the gap between themselves and Argentina. Next, Portugal will stand in 8^th place after showing strength during June. The ninth place spot will belong to Croatia and Italy will wrap up the top ten.

Predictions for the remaining 15:

11 Chile

12 Greece

13 Norway

14 Mexico (After winning the Gold Cup)

15 Japan

16 Australia

17 Slovenia

18 France

19 Ivory Coast

20 Russia

21 Ghana

22 Serbia

23 USA

24 Korea Republic

25 Paraguay

Predicted top 25 FIFA Rankings:

1 Spain

2 Netherlands

3 Germany

4 Brazil

5 England

6 Argentina

7 Uruguay

8 Portugal

9 Croatia

10 Italy

11 Chile

12 Greece

13 Norway

14 Mexico

15 Japan

16 Australia

17 Slovenia

18 France

19 Ivory Coast

20 Russia

21 Ghana

22 Serbia

23 USA

24 Korea Republic

25 Paraguay

In three years World Cup Soccer 2014 will be initiating. As is the case with every world cup, the host country is automatically qualified for the event. In comes Brazil. Who else is expected to qualify for the tournament? Let’s start from the top. Since they won it all last year, Spain will certainly participate. The runner-up, Netherlands (Holland) will also qualify – as they have yet to lose since the world cup. Unless pigs start to fly, Germany will make the tournament and toss Argentina in there as well. So now we have 5 out of 32 teams; a good start. However predicting the other 27 teams is not nearly as easy. England is very probable; however World Cup Soccer News predicts they will drop lower in the FIFA world rankings (currently 6^th) as the World Cup approaches due to a lack of young soccer talent. They have two promising players under 25 – Rooney and Andy Carroll. Portugal is a very different story. Players such as Christiano Ronaldo and Nani will help propel them to secure a spot in Brazil. Time for the first significant leap of faith in our predictions: Slovakia. Does the name Marek Hamsik ring a bell? If not, then take note. Marek is an attacking midfielder currently playing for Italian Club team Napoli. Currently aged 23, Marek has already played 46 international games for Slovakia and scored 8 times. This young man will be at the prime of his footballing career in 2014. Now we have 8 out of the 32 teams set in place.

 Who else is in? Uruguay. Currently ranked 7^th, Uruguay will not miss World Cup Brazil. The last time the World Cup was held in Brazil, Uruguay was victorious in a game that had over 173,000 people in attendance! The following 7 teams are also expected to make the tournament: Italy, Chile, Japan, Ghana, France, Australia and Ivory Coast.

 If you are hoping to attend World Cup Soccer 2014, start planning now. It has been declared that Rio de Janeiro will serve as the hub of the tournament and this is where the final will be held on July 13, 2014. There will be a total of 12 host cities from all across the country. For you as an attendant, this will cause organizational stress because of the long distances between cities – Brazil is the 5^th largest country in the world. Therefore, book your plane tickets as soon as they become available.

 World Cup Soccer News predicts Brazil will win the 2014 tournament.

The USA vs. Spain on June 4, 2011 in Boston, USA. The World Cup 2010 champions will challenge the USA on its home soil.

Recent Record:

Spain: W, W, W, L (Portugal), W, W, L (Argentina), W

USA: L (Paraguay), D, D, W, D, W, L (Brazil), L (Ghana)

FIFA/Coca-Cola Standings:

Spain: 1

USA: 22

Momentum From Last 5 Games:

Spain is favored for momentum; USA has not won any of the last three games.

Prior Meetings

-          June, 2009 USA 2:0 Spain

-          June, 2008 Spain 1:0 USA

Injury Concerns:

For Spain, Puyol will be out for three months after undergoing surgery on his left knee.

Suspensions:

None

Level of Fatigue:

Neither team has played recently.

Special Coaching Situations:

None

World Cup Soccer Prediction – USA 1:2 Spain

FIFA held a one-candidate election earlier today in order to determine the next FIFA president. Sepp Blatter won and will continue to serve as the president through the 2014 World Cup. Are there really zero additional people willing to serve as president? If so, what is the point of even having an election? Certainly others would appreciate the opportunity to stand as president. However, the presidency has been decided and Blatter will serve another term. In my opinion, FIFA needs accountability. I am unaware of any organization that audits FIFA. Are they really acting as a good steward of their resources? If not, then the beautiful game is taking the punishment and Sepp Blatter should not continue to enjoy the presidency.

Arguably the biggest game of 2011 takes place in less than 2 hours. Barcelona and Manchester United will battle for the right to be called the Champion of the Champions League. Both teams have already been declared Champion of their respective leagues and now they are searching for more recognition. Because the matchup takes place in London at Wembley Stadium, Manchester United will have a noticeable home field advantage. However, Barcelona is favored by the bookies. Barca is very difficult to defend, but we expect that Man U will get the job done. World Cup Soccer News predicts a final score of Manchester United 1:0 Barcelona.

June 4, 2011 in Goiania, Brazil, the Netherlands will challenge the 2014 World Cup host nation. Holland has not lost a game since the 2010 World Cup final and is ranked 2^nd in the world. Meanwhile, Brazil has lost 2 games since World Cup 2010 (France and Argentina). Brazil is currently ranked 3^rd. The Netherlands certainly has more momentum as they proved that they could easily bounce back from the defeat in the World Cup Final. However, the excitement for World Cup 2014 is already mounting for Brazil. The last time these two nations met on the pitch was last summer in South Africa. The Netherlands was losing at halftime 0:1, but came back in the second half to win 2:1. Prior to World Cup 2010, the last time these two teams met was 1999 at Holland, where they tied 2:2.

 Both teams have multiple star players. Brazil’s David Luiz has been especially promising since his arrival at Chelsea in January. He will hope to provide sound defending for the Brazilians. Concerning the Netherlands, much of the focus will be on Robin Van Persie who is actually fit and will be looking to find the back of the net in Goiania. Van Persie has been on a scoring frenzy for Arsenal, and has scored in both of the 2011 international matches in which he has participated. Neither team has any significant injury concerns; however Rafael Van der Vaart (Netherlands) has been struggling with fitness throughout the past few months.

 The major factor favoring Brazil is home field advantage. However, the major factor that favors the Netherlands is their strong momentum. WCSN predicts that Brazil and the Netherlands will tie 2:2 in their matchup on June 4^th.

It’s official – Golden Boot EPL 2011 goes to both Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez. To find the last time the EPL golden boot was shared, you must go all the way back to the 1998/1999 season. Three players shared the award with 18 goals each: Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Michael Owen and Dwight Yorke. This year, Berbatov and Tevez end the campaign with 20 goals a piece. Take a minute to watch the sidebar video for some of the Berbatov & Tevez highlights.

Could Berbatov have scored even more goals? Some fans are expressing concerns about the frequent bench-time served by Berbatov this season. However, it is hard to blame Sir Alex, because Berbs seemed to be either on fire or ice cold. For a team like Manchester United, consistency is key. In addition, strikers such as Chicharito and Wayne Rooney also deserve their fair share of the playing time. One of the negatives of playing on a team like Man U is shared playing time.

The golden boot is not a perfect system. In fact, there are differences from one league to the next. Consider the World Cup golden boot. In the event of a tie for most goals scored, the award goes to the player who played the fewest minutes. The rationale being, the participant who played fewer minutes had a better percentage of minutes per goal. If this system was used in the premier league, Berbatov would have been the sole recipient of the award. Sharing is fine too – and sharing is what the two Manchester forwards (City & United) will have to do.

So the May Fifa/Coca-Cola World Rankings were released on Wednesday. No surprises. Top 5 – the same. Top 10 – the same. Top 20 – not quite the same. The fabulous South American country of Chile moved up to 13 while Japan filled in at 14. Neither team had a match during the period since the April rankings (some non-results occurrence). There were no other team movements within the top 25 International squads. Spain and Netherlands still have a comfortable margin over every other team. You will have to wait until the 29^th of June for the next release of the Fifa World Rankings.

Find the full list of rankings by clicking on the widget in the right sidebar of this page.

Carlos Tevez is being told by Argentina head coach, Sergio Batista that the striker position is held indefinitely by Messi. In other words, Tevez is told not to expect to play central striker. Is Batista punishing Tevez? It certainly seems like relations between Tevez and the national team have been mired for quite a while.

“There are no discarded players but if you ask about Tevez … we have Messi in that position.” ~Sergio Batista

Since the 2010 World Cup, there have been many issues concerning Tevez and the Argentine National Team:

-          November 2010 – Tevez is requested to come to Doha, Qatar in order to challenge Brazil. Only a handful of days before the game Tevez plays for his club, Manchester City. Then only days before the international match, Tevez claims that he is injured and cannot come to Qatar. However, there are little or no signs of an injury during the next match that Tevez plays a few days later for Man City.

-         February 2011 – Sergio Batista chooses not to invite Tevez to play in the match against Portugal. Argentine fans become upset and Julio Grondona, head of the AFA, suggests that Batista is punishing Tevez for not joining the national team in Qatar.

-         February 2011 – Sergio Batista declares that Tevez will not be included in the March fixtures with USA and Costa Rica.

-         March 2011 – Tevez is left out of the Argentine National team

-         May 2011 – Sergio Batista says, “I am looking for players to fit into my tactical scheme and any doubts I still have about who to include in my 22-man squad for the July 1-24 South American tournament depend on finding the right man for a particular position.” This statement seems to leave little room for somebody like Tevez since the particular position that Tevez plays is already filled.

“My number nine is Lionel Messi,” “There’s nothing personal.” “Argentina are not going to play like Barcelona but I want to surround Messi in the best possible way,” Batista said. “We will play a controlled possession game with patience.”

“Gonzalo Higuain of Real Madrid was a second option as the central striker or he could play in a slightly different attacking role.”

In my opinion, there should be room for Tevez on the national team, but he must be willing to play selflessly. I usually see Tevez as the sort of player who needs to be the center of attention. However, the Argentine coaches would have to work diligently in order to ensure that Tevez would not take away from the other massive talents on the team. Lionel Messi must be the center of attention for the national team.

Starting on June 3 there will be some preliminary matches in order to reduce the number of North American and Central American countries vying for a spot in the preliminary draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro. It is necessary to hold earlier matches due to the many smaller countries in the Carribean that have less developed soccer programs. The low ranked countries will challenge one opponent two times – home and away. Then each victorious country will go on to the complete regional draw. It seems like a good system to allow each country to have competitive FIFA matches. Our predictions are in bold.

Matchups:

Montserrat              :    Belize

Anguilla                    :    Dominican Republic

US Virgin Islands  :    British Virgin Islands

Aruba :    St. Lucia

Bahamas                    :    Turks and Caicos Islands

Check out the new video of Maxi Rodriguez scoring his third goal in the recent game against Fulham.

South Africa are currently ranked 39th in the Fifa World Rankings. However they face a tough challenge against Tanzania today. The South African squad chosen for the match is not your typical team. Pitso Mosimane, the South African coach, was forced to choose a weak group of players due to the recent reschedule of the match from May 28th to May 14th. In fact, there are only 6 players included in the squad who have ever played on the Bafana Bafana before. Mosimane is still confident that his team will play well and will have an advantage.